OSAKA -- Osaka lost the bid for the 2000 Group of Eight summit to Okinawa, shocking and disappointing many local business and political leaders who had believed their city was the clear favorite.
But the news was greeted with enthusiasm by one group in Osaka -- those who live in Taisho Ward, home to one of the largest concentrations of Okinawans in the country.
Since Nago, in northern Okinawa, was chosen over heavily favored Osaka last year, the Okinawan community of Taisho, which numbers about 20,000 people who claim Okinawa as their home, has begun to spruce up what is still a working-class neighborhood.
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